During the summer of 1964 he participated in civil rights work in Mississippi.[5] In 1968 Acoli joined the HarlemBlack Panther Party as its finance minister.[4] He was arrested on April 2, 1969 in the Panther 21 conspiracy case,[4] in which members were accused of planned coordinated bombing and long-range rifle attack on two police stations and an education office in New York City.[6]

In May 1973, while driving the New Jersey Turnpike, his car was stopped by N.J. state troopers. Zayd Malik Shakur, was killed and Assata Shakur, was wounded and captured. One state trooper, Werner Foerster, was killed and the other wounded. Sundiata was captured days later.

He was convicted of the death of the state trooper and was sentenced to Trenton State Prison (TSP) for life plus 30 years consecutive.[7]

Upon entering Trenton State Prison he was subsequently confined to a new and specially created Management Control Unit (MCU) created for him and other politically associated prisoners. He remained in MCU almost five years.[4]

In September 1979, Sundiata was transferred to Marion, Illinois, federal prison despite having no federal charges or sentences. In July 1987 he was transferred to the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. In the fall of 1992, Sundiata was denied parole.[4] He was up for parole again in 2012.[8] On September 29, 2014, a New Jersey state appeals court officially granted Acoli's request for parole,[9] though the state of New Jersey will appeal this ruling.[9]